Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review—Heard Of It?

Analysts expect Modern Warfare 2's first week sales to breach $500 million. To provide perspective, The Dark Knight made $155.34 opening weekend. A movie ticket is cheaper than a video game, but half a billion dollars, any way you spin it, screams mainstream hit.

Analysts expect Modern Warfare 2's first week sales to breach $500 million. To provide perspective, The Dark Knight made $155.34 opening weekend. A movie ticket is certainly cheaper than a video game, but half a billion dollars, any way you spin it, screams mainstream hit.

So, if you're reading this, we can assume you're one of three types: One, someone who's already bought Modern Warfare 2; Two, someone who's boycotting Modern Warfare 2 for any of a number of reasons, but will still probably buy it; Or three, a non-gamer who buys three or four titles a year and has been struck with curiosity by an unavoidable hype machine, including but not limited to television commercials, online take over ads and word of mouth.

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Number 3, this one's for you.

Yes, Number 3, you should buy the game, but as the gamer that's a bit thriftier with your dollar, you need more convincing. I understand that.

For simplicity's sake, let's break the content down to its three parts: campaign, spec-ops and multiplayer.

Modern Warfare 2 is first a single-player campaign. About seven hours long for someone familiar with First-Person Shooters, tack on another couple hours longer for those new to the genre. The story follows a handful of Western world special ops as they struggle to subvert a global terror plot, which intentionally pressures America and Russia into an increasingly heated conflict. Good to get this out of the way, as the story's the weakest feature, a muddy, convoluted bit of pulp made more twisted by a frenetic and dizzied presentation.

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You've probably heard about a controversial scene in which the player shoots up an airport full of civilians. The game's mediocre story does little to help the scene and I doubt either the story or Modern Warfare 2's larger screed against terrorism will convince any newcomers that games are art (as some hardcore editors will attest, if they haven't already).

It's worth pointing out the airport scene is debatably less graphic than say Grand Theft Auto IV's freedom to pick up a hooker, take her pleasure, then murder the woman and lift her money. What I mean to say is, this level of depraved violence isn't new to video game storytelling. Again, does that mean it's approaching art? That's a debate for another forum.

Also, the scene is optional, so those who do take offense can skip it. Remember though, in this game you're expected to kills hundreds if not thousands of virtual people, good or bad.

So you get some controversy, a futzy story and a healthy slice of game time. You also get a whole slew of weapons ranging from pistols to sub-machine guns, rifles to bazookas, claymores to riot shields. And you'll do battle with a variety of military-grade vehicles and airships. You'll travel across the world and even into space. All of it comes together despite itself, and by the time the credits roll, the campaign is more than the sum of its parts.

Special Ops Mode takes bits of the campaign and some special additions, compartmentalizes and tweaks them for cooperative play and rolls them out in increasing levels of difficulty. A number of them are playable solo, but the most impressive addition to the franchise is the use of Special Ops mode to convey scale. For example, one mission sees the two players divided. The first player navigates an expansive farmland in a point A to Point B scenario. Between the two points, dozens of enemy troops, vehicles and heavily armed copters. The second player mans the guns in an AC-130 gunship. With a bird's eye POV, number two calls the shots: clearing the field of enemies, saying when's safe to move and using heavy blasts to provide cover.

Multiplayer mode is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. If you're totally new to the series or a casual fan, you still probably know the complaints put against it. That it fosters a frat house mentality with a vernacular of vulgarities and even threats. It's homophobic. It's racist. It's an ugly place where hyper-competitive, hyperactive, hyper-aggressive teenagers do battle with strong-willed, thirty somethings.

Well, sort of. But those complaints ignore a few key factors. The game features a mute button, one that works on a player by player basis. You can play with those on your trusted friend list. And Infinity Ward is one of the best in the business at creating a multiplayer experience.

Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy - all the familiar modes are here and more. There's deep stat tracking. You can change and modify your call sign, a little bar that pops up when you kill or get killed. And most importantly, you can customize your class with the weapons of your choosing. This stuff is expected, but on top of it, Modern Warfare 2 adds a refined match making system that will help pit you against players on similar skill level as yours, along with death streaks and perks that reward you for dieing a certain number of times. Think of them like rubber banding in racing games, tools that keep the game close, but should rarely decide the winner.

On top of that, there are more customizable perks and weapons than before, additional drops including the AC-130 along with a number of deadly aerial attacks and dozens of maps.

To put a bow on this, there's about seven hours of campaign, another fifteen clearing Special Ops on all levels and at least twenty-four hours unlocking everything in multiplayer. Plus, you can always just keep playing after you've maxed out your multiplayer rank. The experience - minus that clumsy story - is superior, more polished than anything we've seen this year. The graphics are showroom standard, great for boasting a new home theatre. And like the Dark Knight, everyone's going to play it.

So why shouldn't you, Number 3?

Grade: A+

You may like this if:

You like the high amount of content to small amount of money ratio, exceptionally refined video games and a splash of controversy.

You may not like this if:

You demand dedicated servers, can live without another FPS no matter how good this one is or feel icky shooting all those virtual people.